Starting your first watch collection

Starting your first collection can be quite daunting and challenging, we came up with an article for you to read to give you some head-start.
Typically, we can go with three basic styles/designs: The Beater, Sport and Dress watches.

Here are the details and comparison between the three.

Glossary

Manual movement: powered by the release of tension energy in the mainspring when it is being wound up. Energy is released slowly, and regulated, causing the gears to move at a certain frequency. The gears are connected to the hands, which then displays the time (analog display). Most of such watches are need to be hand wound again to power up the spring to its maximum tension. The longer the spring, the more energy it can store, and the longer the watch can hold without having to wind it again. A typical power reserve of a mechanical movement is approximately 36hours.

Automatic movement: Similar to the mechanical movement, except that there is an addition of a weight attached over the movement, called the rotor.
The rotor is a free-weight that oscillates around the watch movement. It moves when the watch is moving, usually due to the wrist movement of the wearer. The rotor moves to power up the watch’s spring, so in this way, as long as the watch is being worn for every 2 days, the watch need not need to be hand wound to its maximum at all.

Chronograph: To time an event while the main timekeeping is not affected. Resetting the chronograph is usually by another button

Flyback chronograph: with a single button to start, stop and reset the chronograph

Rattrapante / Spilt second chronograph: essentially a double chronograph. Able to time two events simultaneously, both must begin at the same time

Power reserve display:To display the amount of power reserve left in the mainspring

Tourbillon: A Breguet invention in the 18th century, a tourbillon counters the effects of gravity by mounting the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage, ostensibly in order to negate the effect of gravity when the timepiece (and thus the escapement) is rotated. (from Wikipedia)

Moonphase/triple calendar: usually a decorative purpose, display the phases of the moon in a month. Triple calendar consists of a display with day, date and month

Perpetual calendar: A watch that shows day, month, year. Some are able to change date during the month of February where the days are shorter in the month. Some watches have the ability to incorporate leap years into their mechanism such that one does not need to change the day or month during the month of February

Skeleton: Usually in manual winding watches where by the parts of the watch (mostly highly decorated) are visible either from the front, back or both.

GMT: known as Greenwich Mean Time, a watch that can display a second time zone or a 24-hour display

Perlagé: Also known as circular graining, perlagé is a surface decoration comprising of an even pattern of partially overlapping dots applied with a quickly rotating plastic or wooden peg.

Geneva stripes: also known as Côtes de Genève, a beautiful pattern on the watch movement, usually on the bridges using a rose engine lathe.

Crystal: The glass that covers the front and back of the watch. Sapphire having the highest grade of scratch resistant followed by mineral and lastly plexi/plastic. Inner side is usually coated with anti-reflective. In some watches, the crystal is double-coated outer and inner side to reduce the reflection of the crystal

Other comments for starting a watch collection:

Price and the resale value of a watch are difficult to predict. It is akin to asking which stock price will rise tomorrow. Typically the price and its resale value of a watch are driven by some of factors such as brand equity, rarity of the movement ,country of manufacture, number of editions, presence of precious metals/stones, its history and of course, market demand. However, the rule of thumb in selecting a watch is to get the watch that you like regardless of its possible resale value, so that you will not be “living in misery” should you decide to sell the watch later and not be able to do so

Limited edition watches certainly may drive up its resale value and popularity. After all, not everyone is able to own the watch even if you have the money to purchase one. But what constitutes a “limited edition”? Some manufacture list one thousand as limited edition. But if you think about it, 1000 is quite a high number. Typically, numbers between 99 to 500 can be considered pretty limited edition.

Also, do not be misled by the word “limited” as some are limited to number of production per year, which means there can be 99 of such models produced in that year, but in the following year, the same model will be produced again.

Where to buy

You can start buying and browsing for watches at all authorized dealer (AD) shops, reputable pre-owned dealers and watch forums. These are ideal places to start with. Pre-owned watches are usually priced lower than the original retail price - however, one does not know the condition of the watches and the movements. Some can live with the idea of buying a second-hand piece. Some do not. Pretty subjective here! AD shops usually sell 100% brand new watches with full warranty - so that in the event anything should happen to your watch, you will be assured that all is covered by warranty.

Conclusion

To sum it up, choosing your first watch can be like selecting your first car or first house. Take your time, consider all possible pros and cons, likes and dislikes of the watches in mind, (but don’t think too long as the watch may be sold-out by then), and go with what you feel is the most appealing to both your eyes and heart.
Enjoy your first wrist watch and welcome into the world of horology!

Article is copyright property of Watchwerkz (Singapore). Please seek permission before reproducing it on any form of print.

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